Data Science for Sustainable Agriculture

Big Ag: manufacturing in an uncertain environmentRon Potok, PhD, Director of Analytics, Solum, Inc

Solum’s mission is to make agriculture easier and more productive. Our software-based approach provides farm management and decision support tools for large grower operations. Many farms run as outdoor manufacturing plants, yet are further complicated by uncertain weather and disperse geography, with many having 100+ fields spread out over several hundred miles. Using a combination of data layers, we develop models to provide answers to questions such as - 'What activity should I perform on which of my fields today'? This talk reviews the types of data the young 'agriculture data science' industry is using and its approach to providing predictions.

The water-energy nexus in AgricultureOlivier Jerphagnon, M.S., CEO of PowWow Energy, Inc.

PowWow Energy, Inc. is a leading innovator in the Agriculture & Water sector. Based in Sunnyvale, California our team leverages Big Data to solve operational problems for ranchers and farmers, and help the environment at the same time by making better use of our water and energy resources. Our first product, the smart leak detector™, is a Cleantech Open 2013 finalist. PowWow leverages advanced data mining to detect water leaks in irrigation systems from electrical signatures in the energy usage of water pumps.

Making agriculture data-driven

Ashwin Madgavkar, Founder, Ceres Imaging

We will discuss the use of aerial photography and image processing techniques to monitor crop health with multi-spectral cameras that measure variables like:

• Plant water stress

• Plant nutrient content

• Presence of diseases/parasites/weeds

We will focus on water stress and talk about ways the farmer use this data to improve irrigation scheduling, fertilizer application, and other crop management decisions.

RSVP list to open two weeks in advance.

SCHEDULE

!! Please arrive before 7pm - door locked thereafter !!

• 6.30 to 7:00 pm: light refreshments

• 7:00 to 8:30 pm: talks + QA

• 8:30 to 9.00 pm: networking